Dragrace

Several things are important on the way down the track in drag racing. The first is not to cross into the opponent's lane, as this will result in disqualification. In case of a double disqualification in which one driver commits a foul start and the second driver crosses into his opponent's lane, the driver who committed the foul start wins. Another important consideration is when to shift gears. Most drag motorcycle are shifted manually by the driver, and there are optimum times for shifting that vary with each motorcycle. Typically, power will increase as the engine RPMs (revolutions per minute) increase, but only up to a point before power begins to taper off. The ideal time to shift is at the peak power point. Most drag racers use a tachometer to judge shift points. In Fuel classes especially, "pedalling" the motorcycle (adjusting the throttle) to prevent loss of traction is often important and one measure of how good a driver is.

Strategies for crossing the finish line usually only involve bracket racing (see above). If one motorcycle has a huge lead, it may slow down before crossing the finish line to prevent a breakout. Especially in bracket racing, it is not uncommon to see the leading motorcycle's brake lights come on briefly before the finish line.

If both motorcycles break out, the motorcycle closer to their dial-in wins. In NHRA Junior Dragster racing, however, there is a maximum elapsed time where a motorcycle which is faster than the maximum permissible time is ejected from the entire race. This is faster than the official break out elapsed time.